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The ArachNerd's Disjointed Ramblings

what’s wrong with me?

I have never been very star-struck. Famous people for the most part don’t impress me. And I’ve always feared that their real life personalities would somehow ruin my perspective of them & turn me off to their professional careers. I definitely don’t want to meet any of my favorite musicians on the basis that the ones I like are most likely either really weird or just miserable bastards.

As a child I once met Ernest Tubb, “the Texas Troubadour,” on a Nashville street corner near the Country Music Hall of Fame. That’s probably the only unplanned chance meeting with fame that I’ve ever experienced.

My lovely daughter, when she had the chance to meet her idol, Jewel, could only choke out a few words through her tears. Those words? “Can I hug you?” To her, that meeting was profound; a moment that she will always remember. Sometimes I wish I had that sense of awe & wonder instead of this overpowering, sometimes crippling cynicism.

I did “meet” my favorite baseball player of all time, Ozzie Smith as well as a few other players at the Cardinals “Winter Warm-Up” a few years ago. And this weekend I met a few more. Tyler Johnson & Brad Thompson were in the card shop that I frequent (Fox Sport Cards & Collectibles on the square in Marion, IL). The two young Cardinal pitchers were there for a signing and were supposed to be joined by Chris Duncan who, to be honest, was the big draw for many people. But unfortunately he missed his flight & had other commitments to attend to (namely, his girlfriend if I understood correctly).

I suppose I could’ve taken that chance to chat, tell them how much of a fan I am, ask them who they’re rooting for in the playoffs, something – anything… but I didn’t. I simply handed them their respective cards, they signed them, I said “Thank You” & left. Not very exciting, huh? Oh well. At least I do have their autographs.

They seemed like genuinely nice guys when they talked to other people though!